Since its inception in 1998, the topics and speakers assembled by Farm Smart organizers have continued to attract a larger audience with each successive event and this year’s conference did not disappoint.
Over 900 farmers, agricultural representatives, faculty, and students gathered at the University of Guelph’s Rozanski Hall Jan. 22 for the largest conference to date.
“It is organized by farmers, for farmers. We have a tremendous amount of industry support to deliver the program, but at the end of the day, this is their conference,” said conference chairman Julia Whalen. “We continue to be energized each year by the enthusiasm and uptake for the programs from the farm community. Our number of attendees continues to increase each year, which is a solid indicator of the type of enthusiasm and confidence that farmers also have in the program,” report the organizing committee.
Delegates were able to design their agenda from over 50 sessions. Chris St. Clair, of The Weather Network, chosen by Canadians as Canada’s most dependable weatherman, was the keynote speaker.
International speakers are always popular and this year’s line-up included Douglas B. Beegle, a distinguished Professor of Agronomy and Soil Fertility specialist at Penn State University; Dr. Emerson Nafziger, Professor of Crop Sciences and Extension Agronomist, University of Illinois; Thomas R. Overton, Associate Professor, Department of Animal Science, Cornell University; Arland Suderman, a market analyst and feature writer with Farm Futures, Illinois and Dr. Larry Corah, of Kansas, vice president, Certified Angus Beef (CAB).
“As someone who has spent nearly 30 years producing and providing extension information in the major agriculture state of Illinois, I was impressed to see such a large and enthusiastic crowd on campus on a dreary Saturday to participate in a learning event. While we all use modern means of communication to provide agricultural information today, there is no substitute for the sort of interactions possible in such a setting,” said Nafziger.
Organizers are always looking to present new and innovative programs and an addition to the program line-up for 2011 was the partnership with beef symposium, which offered concurrent beef-specific sessions. Organizers were pleased with the new relationship and the opportunities it presented.
“The partnership with Farm Smart drew a good crowd of young enthusiastic producers who were keen to learn from the exceptional line-up of speakers,” said Brian Pogue, the beef cattle program lead with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and one of the beef symposium organizers.
The conference is a joint project of the Golden Horseshoe and Heartland Regional Soil and Crop Improvement Associations, in partnership with the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC), OMAFRA and various agri-business partners.
The next event will be the in-field crop diagnostics and demonstration sessions offered at a Farm Smart Expo on July 14. Its 4-H Expo will follow on July 15.
Session proceedings and program updates for all the Farm Smart events will be posted online at www.uoguelph.ca/farmsmart.
